For competitive reasons, modern times livestock breeding, as such breeding of furred animals and milkers, often requires large herds. This entails a high risk of infectious diseases, which may result in deaths and in serious cases necessitate the destruction of an entire herd involving heavy economic losses.
For preventing these situations, antibiotics are widely used, which should be considered alarming in the long view, as such a wide use furthers the development of antibiotic-resistant pathogenes.
In general, rational and efficient production methods are used today in modern livestock buildings, the use of which would be impossible without the use of antibiotics for both prevention and cure. This situation is for instance typical in poultry and pig production.
From an ethical assessment of the animals' welfare and suffering in connection with diseases, it is highly desirable to fulfil a primary health objective based on a significant strengthening of the animal's natural immune system as defense against various bacteria and viruses and thus allow for the removal of all antibiotics from animal production.
In mink breeding, problems with diseases such as plasmacytosis, puppy disease (caused by the distemper virus: canine distemper virus), virus enteritis, three-day sickness and sticky kits (diarrhoea condition found in minks during the suckling period and possibly caused by a too high lipid-to-protein ratio in the feed). Such diseases often result in heavy losses and increased use of antibiotics.
Silver in a biologically accessible form, such as colloidal silver, was commonly used until 1938. Since then the pharmaceutical industry has taken over the field of disease combating, and the research on colloidal silver has been shelved in competition with faster-acting and economically more lucrative drugs.
The therapeutic and prophylactic use of biologically accessible silver should be performed with the utmost caution and only in very low doses, the silver accumulating in the organism, especially in the liver, causing a weakening of the immune system. Especially at prophylactic use, where silver is administered on a regular basis, it may be difficult or practically impossible to obtain positive results without in fact deteriorating the state of health in the long view.
In the past 30 years, ox and shark cartilage has been used for the treatment of a number of diseases. It is assumed that cartilage kills cancer cells directly, stimulates the immune system and inhibits the formation of new blood vessels (angiogenesis) which the cancer cells need in order to grow uninhibitedly. A few tests are known in which cartilage has been used for the treatment of cancer in humans, but the results thereof have not been unambiguous. Shark cartilage is sold as a powder and is an excellent source of calcium, phosphor, amino acids and mucopolysaccharides.
WO 94/12510 states that in addition to the inherent nutritional benefit of shark cartilage, it is believed that two factors are also important in producing the beneficial health effects attributed to shark cartilage. One factor is the carbohydrate or mucopolysaccharide content of the shark cartilage which is believed to stimulate the immune system of the body to resist and fight disease. The second important factor is the anti angiogenic factor found in the protein portion, which can contain as many as five different active proteins.
EP-A-1 308 155 discloses an injectable solution containing a colloid of iron and shark cartilage-derived chondroitin sulphate. Such injectable solution is not suitable for a prophylactic daily use in animal breeding. Use of colloidal silver is not suggested in EP-A-1 308 155.
JP patent publication No. 2002-145794 (application No. 2001-255278) discloses an anti-arthritic or anti-rheumatic preparation containing an extract of the plant Withaia somnifera Dunal combined with an extract of cartilage, such as shark cartilage.
In the field of health food, antimony pentasulphide (Sb2S5, golden antimony sulphide) is recommended against winter coughs and bronchitis. Antimony pentasulphide is also used in combination with tin iodide, e.g. as a preparation known as “Broron-adult” or -child”. The use of zinc preparations, e.g. zinc isovalerate or metallic zinc, is also recommended within the field of health food.
The recommendations in the health food field often concern very small amounts of the components in question, e.g. as a daily supplement. However, in many cases, the claimed effects are not sufficiently well documented and there has existed a widespread doubtful or skeptical attitude towards the product range of the health food market. Without considering whether the skeptical attitude is well founded or not, it may be established that these materials are not among the first ones considered by the livestock breeder for solving the above problems with infectious diseases among livestock.
It has now been found that by combining biologically accessible silver with a cartilage preparation the positive effect of silver can be enhanced to allow the use thereof in such low amounts that the unintended and detrimental accumulation of silver in the organism, e.g. in the liver, can be avoided or reduced to a harmless level.
Furthermore, it has been found that by adding very small amounts of additional selected components to such a silver/cartilage combination, the health-promoting effect of this combination can be sustained.
It has thus been found that a preparation with a surprisingly effective prevention of diseases, including highly infectious diseases, can be formulated by means of the combination, preferably with some supplement components, which each has a proven or presumed health-promoting effect on humans. This surprising effect has already been seen in minks in areas with serious plasmacytosis problems. It seems to indicate that the said wish to completely avoid the use of antibiotics in livestock breeding can be fulfilled within a short time frame.